Archives West Finding Aid

Donegan Reeder Wiggins was born in Dodge City, Kansas on February 10, 1888. His parents were Henry Gilbert Wiggins (1859-1932) and Nancy Elizabeth (Lizzy) Donegan Wiggins (1859-1920). In 1913, the Wiggins family moved to Salem, Oregon. There, Wiggins and his father operated the Salem Heights Grocery. In 1927, Wiggins went to work for the Oregon Secretary of State's office. Wiggins was also a firearms and ballistics expert. During World War I, he served as an armorer with a machine gun battalion of the U.S. Army. After the war, he performed as a trick shooter, assisted the Oregon State Police with servicing firearms, and testified in court cases as a ballistics expert. Wiggins also worked as a firearms consultant and editor for Adventure Magazine for 30 years. He regularly wrote short stories, poetry, and nonfiction articles on firearms, ballistics, famous gunfights, and the history of the American West for Adventure Magazine and several other publications.

Sources: "D. R. Wiggins, Arms Authority Dies in Salem," Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), July 26, 1950; biographical information in the collection, titled "The Don Wiggins Story," by Ernest E. Baker.

Duncan S. Donegan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 11, 1831. He emigrated to the United States between 1850 and 1858. He worked as a teacher and Baptist preacher in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and California. Donegan also served in the Missouri legislature during the 25th General Assembly from 1869-1970. He died in Marlow, Oklahoma, on January 18, 1911.

Source: Biographical information in the collection, titled "The Don Wiggins Story," by Ernest E. Baker.